Clearing up the Copyright Picture: Google's YouTube is Not Napster

How in the world this argument ever started, and why the media personalities are feeding the comparison, is beyond me. Google's (GOOG) YouTube is NOT Napster (NAPS). Napster was not following the law by allowing people to upload/share music from their servers, and did not adhere to the requests of the copyright owners to stop the action. YouTube is not doing this. Even if some can define what YouTube does as similar to Napster, by allowing the spread of some material to other websites via a YouTube server, people cannot dismiss the fact that YouTube issues the DMCA warning when videos are uploaded, and once notified of the copyright infringement, YouTube takes down the video. Napster was never so willing to work with copyright owners, until they were forced to shut down.

A hosting company does not know, and should not be presumed to know, what video has a copyright on it. This is why the copyright owners must, and is forced to by law, to protect THEIR material. Again, YouTube is not in the business of knowing what video has a copyright on it. While some maybe obvious, they are not in the business of making that decision. YouTube should not be expected to be taking down material unless they know for sure the material is copyrighted, no mater how obvious. The only sure way for YouTube to 'know' is if the copyright owner works with YouTube... i.e. a partner.